


Neglection

by Iamacarrot



Series: In Which Our Hero Needs Saving [2]
Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018)
Genre: Accusations of Child Neglect, CPS gets involved, Dysfunctional Family, Heavy Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-09-18 15:20:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16997502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iamacarrot/pseuds/Iamacarrot
Summary: There was absolutely nothing wrong with how Mikey's brothers treated him! This new therapist that Mikey had gotten was crazy! In no way, shape, or form did Mikey's brothers neglect him needed attention in any way!





	Neglection

“So, how does this whole “Therapy” thing work?” Mikey asked, trying to glance over to the paper his newfound therapist was writing on.

With a smirk, the therapist pulled back, hiding his writing and chuckling. Mikey had been recommended to said therapist (Dr. Caleb) by a fellow Yokai, who had become a bit concerned after watching Mikey and his brothers interact. None of the brothers thought it was necessary, but it was highly encouraged by April, who had said that it would give Mikey an outlet to talk to someone in a safe place. At that mention, Raph and Donnie reluctantly agreed, and Leo simply blew it off. Whether it seemed necessary or not, everyone knew that this foreign Yokai would stop at nothing to make sure that Mikey was safe.

As if they expected he wasn't! So, they let things get sort out, which led to the current situation now.

"Well, I'll start off by asking a few questions. Nothing too out there. Simply questions about how you feel about your home life." Dr. Caleb replied.

Mikey smiled, moving back and sitting on the secondary chair in the room. Having a face to face conversation with someone who would actually listen was incredibly tempting. Plus, Mikey had been told that nothing would be spilled unless it absolutely needed to be. Which meant that he could be as open and free as he wanted to be!

"Okay, first question; how do you feel about your brothers?" Dr. Caleb asked.

"They're great!" Mikey replied, throwing his hands in the air.

Dr. Caleb chuckled. He could tell that he was going to enjoy having Mikey as a patient.

"Care to be more specific?" Dr. Caleb asked.

"Okay! Let's start with Raph! He's really strong, and the protector of all of us! He can fight really well, but he usually has a hard time making plans." Mikey started.

Dr. Caleb nodded, jotting down a few notes. It was always interesting to hear his patients talk about their home life. Something was nagging at the therapist, though. With the way Mikey was holding himself- a sort of alert, anxious stance; indicating that Mikey was ready to dart off as soon as the situation called for it -and the way that Mikey was describing his family with such exaggerated enthusiasm, Dr. Caleb could have sworn that Mikey was showing the obvious signs of neglect and/or abuse.

Then again, Mikey _had_ mentioned that he and his brothers were training to be ninjas. So Dr. Caleb decided to give the benefit of the doubt, and made it a point to force himself to remember that piece of information.

"Then there's Donnie. He's super smart, and he's been training me to be just as smart! We like to play Chess when he has time, and he teaches me about the elements and statistics and stuff!" Mikey cheered, his stance becoming a bit more tightened, like a toy being wound up and begging to be released.

The little bugger most likely didn't notice this, though.

"And last, but not least, there Leo. He's pretty cool too. He can be kinda mean, and sucky, and he's a  _terrible_ winner! But, other than that, he can be a good big brother when he really wants to be. He has this super power, like, he can read everyone's emotions by just looking at them for five seconds! It's a bit disturbing, but it interests Donnie, so I'm okay with it." Mikey explained.

"Interesting, well-"

"Can I say something more?" Mikey asked, apologizing for interrupting.

Dr. Caleb passed the interruption off, allowing Mikey to speak.

"Leo's really good at reading people, but I wish he could use that when we're in really bad moods. He normally only uses it when  _he's_ at a disadvantage, like when we're upset and he wants us to do something for him. I'm not saying that he should keep watch on us 24/7! I just mean that I wish he could be a bit more compassionate." Mikey sighed.

"Hmm. I see. Michael, would you happen to know  _why_ Leo is so... for lack of a better word, 'sucky'?" Dr. Caleb asked.

"Because he's jealous of me." Mikey stated. Plain and simple.

"Jealous?" Dr. Caleb asked.

"Yeah. I heard him talking about it to our friend once. He thinks that his life would be easier if  _he_ were the youngest. If I hadn't hatched. Sure, it hurt when I heard Leo say that, but you learn to deal with stuff like that when you live with three older brothers." Mikey hummed.

Dr. Caleb got that nagging feeling once more. The first signs of constant alertness could easily be passed off because of Mikey's dedicated ninja training, but for him to be exposed to conversations such as the one he'd described? This made Dr. Caleb begin to worry for Mikey's mental safety.

"Are there any other negative things that your brothers do?" Dr. Caleb asked.

"Of course! Don't all brothers have more negatives than positives when they're teens?" Mikey inquired.

Dr. Caleb put on a worried look, shaking his head.

"Oh... well, I'm sure  _some_ brothers do. Anyways, to answer your question: Raph and Leo fight nearly all of the time. Usually, it's just insults and random curses. Other times, when it's physical, Donnie and I have to hide and wait things out. Besides that, Leo can be pretty mean to me. He hits me a lot. More than Raph or Donnie. He always says he's just messing around, so I forgive him. Besides, holding a grudge would be kinda petty." Mikey chimed.

Dr. Caleb sighed heavily, processing these mentions of jealous... well...  _abuse_ , to be blunt and honest. Mikey knew that it wasn't normal to be hit and talked about so much, but he pushed it aside, because he cared about his brothers so deeply, that he refused to admit that they were actually  _hurting him_ in so many ways.

"Michael, what does your father say about this?" Dr. Caleb inquired.

"Nothing. Pop's not really involved in our lives. He usually just sits around, watches Tv, and eats cake and drinks milk before passing out." Mikey replied.

Oh no. This wasn't good at all.

"Michael, I know that these will seem like uncomfortable questions, but with my current suspicions of something, it's required of me to ask you: Do you feel safe in your own home? Do you ever fear for your safety, in accordance to how you and your family live?" Dr. Caleb asked.

"Who  _wouldn't_ fear for their safety when they have to fight for the lives of other people? Fear is a daily thing for me. It's the most abundant emotion in our home!" Mikey chimed.

"...Then where does love come in?" Dr. Caleb asked.

"I'd say it's probably... let's see... Fear, Anger, Jealousy, Annoyance, Carelessness, Love. So... it's in sixth place." Mikey replied.

Okay. That's it.

"I've heard enough. Come on." Dr. Caleb instructed, leading Mikey out of the office they were sat in and into the waiting room, where his brothers were sitting impatiently.

"Finally! Took you long enough!" Leo scoffed.

"Yeah dude! If we would've known that you were gonna take so long, we would have left and waited for you to call." Raph added.

"We actually considered doing so for a few minutes." Donnie commented.

"Of course you did." Dr. Caleb muttered, venom in his voice.

This caught the attention of Mikey's older brothers. It seemed that, whatever Mikey had said, had given the therapist a  _pretty bad_ impression of who they were.

"Alright, what did you say?" Leo asked, walking up to Mikey and pushing Mikey back.

"I didn't say anything  _bad!_ I swear!" Mikey replied defensively.

"Then why is this guy so upset?" Donnie asked.

"I don't know!" Mikey huffed, grunting as Leo knocked him down.

"Leo, cut it out. It's not like this guy's opinion on us matters." Donnie scoffed.

"You really do believe that, don't you?" Dr. Caleb asked, pulling out his phone and calling someone.

Everyone looked on with interest.

"Yes, hello, Mrs. Chaplain? It's nice to speak with you as well! Look, I have an early teen here who's waiting for you. That I do! All I have to do is fill out the CPS Foster Child form, and-"

_" **NO!** "_  Raph, Donnie, and Leo screamed, all rushing to tear Dr. Caleb's phone away.

Dr. Caleb easily dodged the turtle's advances, rushing behind a nearby door and locking it.

"There's nothing you can do! I'm taking him away from your toxic household, and you'll see how much better it really is to have only one baby brother!" Dr. Caleb huffed.

"Wait, you told him about the-"

"He said I could tell him  _anything!_ I didn't think that he'd react this way!" Mikey whimpered.

"Oh, you  _NEVER_ think! Just like you never take into consideration all that we do for you!" Leo screamed.

"Well, is it really  _my fault_ for wanting you guys to actually pay attention to me like real families do?!" Mikey sobbed.

Everyone silenced.

"Mike...  _please_ don't bring this up again..." Donnie pleaded.

"How can I not?! You guys are always hitting me, or making fun of what I say, or scaring me when you know I'm upset! Real families don't do that! They love each other! They're always there for each other! They don't neglect each other when they know that things won't turn out well! WeALWAYS neglect each other! We  _ALWAYS_ treat each other like jerks! We  ** _ALWAYS_** take each other for granted, until some stupid bout of trouble pops up, and  _then_ we love each other until the next day!" Mikey cried, having moved into Donnie's arms.

Dr. Caleb frowned.

It was obvious that these brothers had engaged in a similar conversation before.

"I don't want this type of lifestyle anymore! I don't want to go to sleep every night, hearing Raph and Leo argue about some stupid thing that went wrong on a mission! I don't want to sit through another one of Donnie's lectures on why I should pay attention more! I don't want to live in a home that's made up of nothing more than rivalry and frustration, and even  _hatred!"_   Mikey screamed.

"...Why do you never talk to us about this?" Raph asked.

"Because none of you  _care_. You all just pass things like this off. Just like you did when I asked..." Mikey replied softly, trailing off. "You tried to distract me by putting on some fake show of affection. The next day, everything was back to normal. No one asked if I was feeling better. You just  _assumed_ that I was. I know that it isn't my place to state this, but... I'm not as strong as any of you... it hurts me when you turn your backs because you can't relate..."

With a sigh, Dr. Caleb then walked out of the room he had hidden in. He had recorded the scenario's audio, and had sent it to the CPS.

"They're going to be here to pick Michael up by tomorrow. You have until then to have his things packed. They want you to bring him here when they come. You'll have visitation rights, but you won't be able to contact the CPS about reconsiderations until after a year of him being in a foster home." Dr. Caleb explained.

"Oh God...  _why?"_   Donnie sobbed, falling to the ground and bringing Mikey with him.

"Why are you taking him from us?" Donnie whimpered to no one in particular, hugging Mikey close.

Mikey didn't react, verbally or physically. He honestly couldn't.

On one hand, Mikey felt that this sort of thing would teach his brothers a thing or two. On the other hand, Mikey knew that this would tear his brothers apart. A matter of feeling selfish and self-righteous at the same time.

Raph and Leo said nothing, still trying to process what had just happened. Were they really losing their baby brother? Was he really being taken after so many years of going through what he did? Did they really make Mikey feel as broken as he did? How did they never catch on?

All of the signs he'd tossed at them, and they got nothing. They didn't catch the hints, and they didn't care enough to try.

Because of this, a piece of their once unbreakable puzzle was being torn away.

Because of this, their pride and joy was being stolen.

Because of this...

They were being forced to look their consequences straight in the eye...

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sampler of something I've wanted to try out. What do you think? Should I continue the heartbreak and angst, or should I stop torturing little nuggo and go back to being nice?


End file.
